Will it take a little extra "development" I would think so but I would think they would save money but not bothering to make the repeats and getting more money for the single figures.

The repeats in the packs were usually there to even out the costs on new tooling and I'd say that's really what they were there for in a few of the "missing" packs. Wonder Woman and Batman were there to off-set the cost of a 100% new figure in Mongul. Superman and Aquaman were put in there to off-set the cost of the 100% new Toyman. Spending money to rearrange the packs to not have the repeat figures defeats Mattel's purpose for having them there in the first place.

When phrased like that Jim, I guess it makes sense. I don't trust anything Mattel says... Hell I don't trust anything any company says. Nothing against them, that's just the way the game is played... I don't believe a word politicians say but I still vote... so I still buy Mattel's products because I accept they will lie or stretch the truth to the general public.

There's always one or two other options with anything... their number crunchers probably just consider this the best way to go.

It's like fighting City Hall, you can't win. They will do what they want in the end. I suggest the people who want them start looking under cushions and breaking open your piggy banks...

When phrased like that Jim, I guess it makes sense. I don't trust anything Mattel says... Hell I don't trust anything any company says. Nothing against them, that's just the way the game is played... I don't believe a word politicians say but I still vote... so I still buy Mattel's products because I accept they will lie or stretch the truth to the general public.

There's always one or two other options with anything... their number crunchers probably just consider this the best way to go.

It's like fighting City Hall, you can't win. They will do what they want in the end. I suggest the people who want them start looking under cushions and breaking open your piggy banks...

It has to be sad to live life with this point of view of everything. I realize not everyone can be trusted but I don't assume everything I'm being told is a lie either.

From a company? Most of the time it is. My job is working for a company, one you probably use many times a week, to make up little white lies for the public and press release. It's not sad it's just realism, why should any company be honest about numbers and cost production? It's not our business... if someone says they're making 100 then they're making 500...

They're not really lies, more like... embellishments... A lie is told to deceive and they;re not really trying to deceive us but they aren't being 100% honest either. I mean why should they? I'll say 50% is honest to goodness truth and the other 50% is glossed over, make it sound better or worse depending on the situation...

I don't have a choice in the matter regarding dropping all of that money at once. If they DON'T offer them seperately there is no way I could afford to get them all. It's true I will be paying more money with shipping for them in the long run but unless they come out every month or two I won't be able to afford them all. I could probably only swing one or two and there are at least four that are must haves for me. And as a completist I need all six.

It seems to me like they could announce they were all coming out on the same day about one year from now, and then people could save up for them all at once. You would end up paying less overall with the combined shipping savings. This is the reason I don't understand the requests to spread it out. Not to pick on you Fone, but is it too difficult to save up for a big purchase? I see no difference between putting aside $50 every couple of months in a bank account or paying Matty that much + shipping. I understand these are toys so things like budgeting and saving over a long period aren't synonymous with fun. I'm genuinely wondering why is there the desire to spread out the releases?

I don't have a choice in the matter regarding dropping all of that money at once. If they DON'T offer them seperately there is no way I could afford to get them all. It's true I will be paying more money with shipping for them in the long run but unless they come out every month or two I won't be able to afford them all. I could probably only swing one or two and there are at least four that are must haves for me. And as a completist I need all six.

It seems to me like they could announce they were all coming out on the same day about one year from now, and then people could save up for them all at once. You would end up paying less overall with the combined shipping savings. This is the reason I don't understand the requests to spread it out. Not to pick on you Fone, but is it too difficult to save up for a big purchase? I see no difference between putting aside $50 every couple of months in a bank account or paying Matty that much + shipping. I understand these are toys so things like budgeting and saving over a long period aren't synonymous with fun. I'm genuinely wondering why is there the desire to spread out the releases?

Great point. It's not like these are coming out tomorrow. What could be the earliest we see these, August 2012? That gives people at least 7 months to do what you said and put away $50 a month. I would think around $350 would cover cost plus shipping if sold at once.

I wanted to buy the DCU LSH box set on Matty. I found out the price point early on and started saving for it.

My son's Cochlear Implant then decided to start acting up and parts of it needed to be replaced.

There goes the savings and then some extra on top.

I started saving again.

My transmission dropped out of my car.

There goes my savings and then some on top.

I started trying to save again.

I got laid off from one of the jobs that was a "staple" of my budget.

All my savings went into paying for things like food, and the car, and clothing and what not for my son until I got my budget stabilized again.

Then it was time for the DCU LSH sale and I had absolutely no access to funds to be able to buy the figures. I just couldn't make it happen.

So I was forced to pass on a set that I am very very upset about missing. I knew it was coming, I planned for it, I budgeted for it, but when it came time, I just couldn't swing it.

Now it is Christmas and I am trying to make my son's wishlist come true. Some of it will happen, most won't. It weighs heavily on me.

So, if I have the option of buying these last 6 packs, 1 every other month for all of next year, it is a much preferable and much more "doable" option for me.

I can save all year, knowing the packs will be on sale in one big lump come December of 2012 and, sure enough, by the time they roll around, many other things will have come up to kill that savings making me unable to acquire them, much like the current DCU LSH box set.

Hope that helps give you a different perspective. Being able to set money aside is great when life happens according to plan. But in my experience, life will always hit you when you don't expect it and it never goes according to plan.

I wanted to buy the DCU LSH box set on Matty. I found out the price point early on and started saving for it.

My son's Cochlear Implant then decided to start acting up and parts of it needed to be replaced.

There goes the savings and then some extra on top.

I started saving again.

My transmission dropped out of my car.

There goes my savings and then some on top.

I started trying to save again.

I got laid off from one of the jobs that was a "staple" of my budget.

All my savings went into paying for things like food, and the car, and clothing and what not for my son until I got my budget stabilized again.

Then it was time for the DCU LSH sale and I had absolutely no access to funds to be able to buy the figures. I just couldn't make it happen.

So I was forced to pass on a set that I am very very upset about missing. I knew it was coming, I planned for it, I budgeted for it, but when it came time, I just couldn't swing it.

Now it is Christmas and I am trying to make my son's wishlist come true. Some of it will happen, most won't. It weighs heavily on me.

So, if I have the option of buying these last 6 packs, 1 every other month for all of next year, it is a much preferable and much more "doable" option for me.

I can save all year, knowing the packs will be on sale in one big lump come December of 2012 and, sure enough, by the time they roll around, many other things will have come up to kill that savings making me unable to acquire them, much like the current DCU LSH box set.

Hope that helps give you a different perspective. Being able to set money aside is great when life happens according to plan. But in my experience, life will always hit you when you don't expect it and it never goes according to plan.

This is a really great point and I completely understand that unexpected costs come up when you are trying to save. But going back to the LSH box set. What if that was broken down and you had been buying the figures monthly all along. The money that you set aside each month would have been spent on figures instead of helping you pay for these important events in your life. So in a way saving for that LSH pack helped you set aside money that was spent on more important things. In the end it really stinks that you couldn't get the set but do you really wish you had been gradually spending that money on figures instead?

I really hope none of what I said comes off as snotty or critical of you because I did not mean it that way. And I'm certainly not trying to tell you how to live either so please don't take it like that. This board can get pretty brutal at times with people telling others how they should be spending their hard earned money and I certainly don't mean it like that.

the difference being that if I ended up missing one or two figures because of an "off month", I could easily track down the one or two missing figures.

Missing out on the box set, which has immediately skyrocketed in value, means that I sit out an entire sub-section of the DCU, one I am very fond of and have wanted to see in this fashion for a long time. At this point, having missed 12 of the LSH in one fell swoop, do I even bother picking up any new figures that get produced?

As my life is want to do ... things do have a way of working themselves out.

I will now, and until the end of all this, continue to hope that these last packs DO make it to market (whether at $50 or some other lower price point doesn't matter anymore), I hope they DO release them OVER TIME and NOT in ONE LUMP UNIT.

We may disagree, but hey, that's my situation and that is how I want it all to play out. Your mileage may vary.

That's kind of the example I was expecting, but when a number of high cost unexpected events happen maybe we really can't afford to get figures at all. If the hypothetical savings are depleted in a year, then one can't really afford the smaller payments every couple of months either (without taking on debt). It's the same total income and same total cost for figures.

I'm not making any judgments, because I just got hit with $700 in unexpected car repairs this month and I don't expect to be able to afford any figures for myself next year. I sympathize with anyone else on a tight budget, but I think it's financially irresponsible to not be able to save up for discretionary purchases. I'd hate to see the lure of finishing up JLU cause anyone to take on debt or overspend, because it's a huge temptation that I need to resist.

It all depends on YOUR situation. While I have been in spots of very tight budgetary constraints, I have also been in situations where finance favored me.

My budget in each time changed accordingly.

I know what my limits are, and where my priorities are. Not everyone can say the same.

That's part of the reason I find all this so amusing.

People in these JLU threads arguing as if they have the one cure all answer for everyone "if only you would listen".

Thing is, one size doesn't fit all. And regardless of how Mattel decides to proceed with this, someone is going to be in a snit about it.

People asked for reasons as to why people might be asking for the packs to be spread out. I gave myself as an example.

Others very much want everything to come out in one lump bundle and give ample reasons why that is a better option.

Unfortunately, my way doesn't work for them, and their way doesn't work for me.

So for now, this is all conjecture, speculation, and wishful thinking. Hopefully Mattel sees all this talk as constructive and finds a middle ground that pleases the most people in the greatest way.

Until then, I've said my peace.Ball is in your court now Mattel, I'll be here waiting for your move. But if you need me to say it again, I'm in for the last six JLU 3packs. My preference is not all at once.

What Mo is trying to say is that JLU's money has been turned off. There's no money for changing anything at this point. New packaging (even a baggie) is going to require someone to spend some amount of time designing whatever new packaging they'd use and there would be the rounds of approval with DC/WB to get those changes made. At this point it seems that Mattel is only willing to consider going through with these figures if the additional costs involved are for the actual production run.

This is why I've asked about the empty spot option.

I know there are a lot of people here more familiar with the toy production process than I am. Can anyone think of any reason why it can't be done? Would they need WB/DC approval for sending the packs out with a missing figure/s? I'd much rather pay $35-40 for a Mongul pack with empty spots where Batman and Wonder Woman should be than pay an extra $10-15 for two figures I have dozens of.

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I want them spread out too because I'd like to get 2 of each pack but my budget will not support spending $600.00 bucks in one day, even if I do save for it. Things come up in life and I'd rather not miss every single pack because they did.

Hell, I would test this stuff for free. Take a small white mailer, toss a JLU fig into it, and shake it. Open the box and check if it is still intact or not. It would take all of maybe three minutes start to finish.

Just to be clear, any money that was spent on JLU in the past is 'spent money'. Since JLU is a dead line save for the tools lying around, any extra expenditures is considered an extra cost in Mattel's eyes. Right?

So, here's the million dollar question: What costs more? Producing, designing, and packing these JLU figs(including crappy and needless repack/repeat characters) on their originally intended cards, OR testing little white mailers and going that route.

I'd be inclined to say the latter would be cheaper. Especially if I did it for free. Hint, Mattel

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